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Guidance for Use of UCAR Trademarks

UCAR Style Guide

When writing about external entities, we follow AP Style: capitalize, but drop the symbol. As a courtesy it's fine to write "trademarked as ____."

The following guidance applies to trademarks held by UCAR and is a way to protect UCAR's intellectual property.

Style

There are two requirements for news releases and all other official communications:

Use on first reference (example: Pikalert™)

In plain text, write this way: (tm).

On the web, use HTML code: &trade;

Add a footnote (no ™ needed this time), for example: Pikalert is a trademark of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Legal Guidance from UCAR Office of General Counsel:

The value of trademarks can be preserved only by proper acknowledgement and use.

Keep in mind that trademarks are adjectives (brand names) modifying nouns. The first use of any UCAR trademark in text should be as a proper adjective, so use a generic noun in association with the UCAR trademark the first time the mark appears. For example, “PIKALERT™ system or WRF® software. After the first use, you need not associate the trademark with the generic noun it is branding.

It is best not to make UCAR trademarks possessive through the use of apostrophes. For example, use the "accuracy of the PIKALERT™ software" instead of "PIKALERT’s accuracy."

Use the appropriate trademark symbol when making reference to any UCAR trademarks. The appropriate trademark symbol may be TM, SM or ®.

Use TM for a trademark that is currently unregistered;

Use SM for a service mark that is currently unregistered;

Use ® fora trademark registered in the United States.

Check with the Office of General Counsel to determine the registration status and applicable symbol for any UCAR trademark.

The trademark symbol does not need to be included in every use of the trademark, but should always be used: (a) the first time the trademark is used in any document or other materials referencing the mark; and (b) on all prominent placement of the trademark (e.g. titles, headings, etc.).

The mark’s symbol should appear immediately after the mark, and the mark legend attributing ownership to UCAR should be placed at the end of the title page of the document (or the end of a web document) in the form of a footnote, in the same font as any copyright notice. For example, “PIKALERT™ is a trademark of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research;” or “WRF® is a registered trademark of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.”

Do not use UCAR trademarks to identify products or services that do not belong to UCAR.

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